“Beginnings and Endings”
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Paul Wilson
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Text: Matthew 2:13-23; Psalm 147:12-20
So often God's ways are such gentle ways, and sometimes that is annoying. Sometimes we would like God to be less gentle. This week I heard an account of bullying and I had occasion to wonder, “Why God does not just wipe out all the bullies in this world?” Katie Goldman is a seven year old girl in Chicago who has been the victim of bullying at school, primarily because she is a Star Wars fan and chose to have a Star Wars bottle for her lunch box. The boys in her Grade One class bullied her and said that those bottles were only for boys. She is different in various ways from the other students at her school, she was adopted, is Jewish, wore glasses, also wore an eye patch to correct a medical problem. Her mother knew nothing about the bullying until the day Katie asked her for a pink water bottle to replace the Star Wars one, and then she broke into tears. We hear of much bullying these days, both in the schoolyard, where punches and hits might go unnoticed, and also online, where at least there are digital traces of bullying on blog sites. In Katie's case, her mother used the internet to counter the bullying, she told Katie's story and it went viral. Soon thousands of people were writing to her, many women who were Star Wars fans who told her it was all right to like Star Wars. Total strangers sent her gifts of Star Wars toys. The school also got involved, started anti-bullying programs. Experts tell us that when boys gather as a group they feel worried they might not fit in, and to make themselves belong, they pick on anyone who does not. At the school, on December 10, they had a Celebrate Our Differences Day and the parents of bullies became involved.
Bullies have always been present and were nearby at Jesus' birth. From the beginning of Jesus' life, the murderous Herod would have killed him, but for God's gentle intervention. Matthew tells us that when the Wise Men, the Magi from the east, astronomers of their day, found a new star in the portion of the night sky that they associated with Israel, they understood that a new king had been born. They were wealthy and respected men in their own culture and they set out for Israel, and naturally they went to Jerusalem and presented themselves at the royal palace, thinking that that might be where this new baby king would be found. Bullies are insecure people and Herod was frightened at the news of a new king of the Jews, but he did not show them his fear. Instead he referred them to prophecy in Scripture that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Little did the Magi know that by going to Herod they set off an alarm. They had no idea that a full-grown man, ruling a nation, could be threatened by a baby. They believed Herod when he said he wanted them to return to the palace. “I want to worship him.” God knows that the Herods of this world do not easily kneel to others and worship anyone but themselves. You know the story, after the Wise Men have found Mother and Child and knelt before him in worship, and given him precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, God intervenes in a gentle way, warning them in a dream not to return to Herod. “Go home by another route.” Of course bullies are not easily stopped, their insecurity runs deep. When Herod realizes that the Magi did not obey him and have in fact tricked him, he casts his net wider to find the new king. He orders all the children, not just the male children, all children under two years of age in the area of Bethlehem to be killed. As St. Augustine said, somewhat humourously, “Perhaps not surprisingly, we do not find many Jewish or Christian children named Herod after that.” Herod is determined that no new king will ever take power. He thinks that his acts of violence can stop even God.
In these present days eight days after the birth of Jesus, we ourselves face a decision, similar to Herod's, do we follow the ways of the Prince of Peace or do we follow our own ways? This is an opportunity for new beginnings. The only New Year's resolution Herod made is his old resolution to be malevolent, murderous, and mighty. Herod is such a troubling person because he reminds us of so many people who were bullies yesterday and murderers today, and wherever they go, victims are left behind. We see the bullying mentality today in countries like the Ivory Coast where Laurent Gbagbo has refused to honour the election results and step down, putting the entire country on the verge of civil war. We see it around us, there can be bullying bosses, like the woman who constantly runs down her staff to make herself feel like she is superior to them; bullying nations like North Korea, repeatedly striking out against the South, oppressing its own people; bullying husbands and boyfriends—violence against women continues daily and statistically the approaching Superbowl is the worst night. We need a new beginning.
Some grade school children were recently asked how many have been victims of cyberbullying, bullying online, and 60 per cent shot up their hands. When they were asked how many of their parents knew about it only 10 per cent said yes. One child in grade school who does not even use the internet was bullied by someone who took his picture, posted it on a website and opened an account in his name, and then used that website to say terrible things about other kids in the school. Many children are afraid to tell their parents about cyberbullying in case their parents forbid their use of a computer. The only thing worse than bullying for these children is to have all social networking cut off leaving them totally isolated. Parents are encouraged to talk with their children and listen without letting the pot boil over, in order to discover the depth of the problem, and then consult school authorities and other parents to know how best to respond. We need a new beginning.
The baby born eight days ago is our new beginning. Here is a question: Why is it that God comes to us in the gentlest of forms, as a baby, so that a bully like Herod can threaten even God's purpose? If God was going to do something about human sin and suffering, why didn't God wipe out all bullies and destroy the bullying forces that seem so prevalent today? When we hear stories of bullying, some of us might momentarily and mistakenly want a Beat Up on the Bullies Day, give them a taste of their own medicine. Why didn't God do that? Why didn't God just take Herod out and all the bad folks like him? Canadian author George Murray cleverly writes of spiders, “A web is a spider's harp, every death it's song.” (Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms, # 358) That might be applied to many of the Herods of this world, every death is a song to them.
There is a simple answer to why God addresses the violence of the world with such gentleness. Violence is not God's way. It is not God's way just to take out the bad people. And it is probably just as well, because while we are not all bullies, most of us can probably recall with shame some time when we have participated in making fun of those who are different from us. We have all acted in less than loving ways to our neighbours. We have all been self-centered, and in so being, we have all opposed God's will. It is a good thing that God does not take out all the people who do bad things, because most of us would be gone. Gentleness is God's way. God's ways are almost too gentle it seems sometimes. In response to the violence and meanness of the world, God sends a baby, becomes flesh and blood so that we will know God better. God's way is to come to us in human form, a vulnerable infant, needing love and tenderness, milk and shelter, clean clothes and a warm dry bed. And how does God announce this magnificent birth to the world? Gently of course, the good news is proclaimed to lowly shepherds in their fields, to foreign scientists, the wise men from the east, and even to Herod. No one is excluded. Everyone has a choice. When Herod responds to this new baby with murderous plots, God continues to refuse violence. God does not send armies. God gives a vision to the Wise Men to go home by a different way. To Joseph, God gives a dream of an angel. The angel says to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And to the holy family, God gives safe passage south to Egypt where they will remain until Herod dies. God sends other dreams to Joseph, when it is safe to return, and when he should settle in Nazareth. At the end of Jesus' life, he falls victim to the Roman troops and Pontius Pilate. And yet we know in faith that Christ risen from the dead, is stronger even than the ultimate bully, death itself. This is the ultimate good news, God's gentle nurturing resurrection love is strong than all the powers of the world. This news is for all people regardless of how they will respond.
Visions, dreams, new travel plans, angels, a baby. These seem like such fragile responses to the troubles of the world. A friend recently took his Michigan seminary class to visit Angola State Penitentiary on an island in the Mississippi River in Louisiana. They went there to see the transformation that has taken place in that institution since 1995. Before that time it was the most violent prison in the United States, filled with violent bullies, murderers, rapists, and racists of all sorts. When the warden, Burl Cain, first arrived, his mother told him, “Now son, most of the prisoners there are never going to get out, and they are never going to hear about God, so you need to do something about that.” We might say that Cain's mother had a vision, a thought came into her mind of what God wanted and she acted upon it by speaking. The warden was a nominal Baptist so he called up the local Baptist seminary to ask if they might start a Bible study in prison, and that became a degree granting seminary program training prisoners to be ordained ministers behind bars. The warden said that he did not allow swearing in prison, because swearing was the first step toward violence. For some reason, the program took off. Prisoners started studying, they counseled others, they conducted their own worship services. Prisons have tried various ways to reduced violence, but no prison had seen the 72 per cent drop in violent crimes that Angola saw. The warden said, “That is not perfect, but that is a lot of people not being hurt.”
My friend said to the warden, “When we came into the prison we were barely searched for weapons.”
The warden replied, “Oh we don't worry about that. The prisoners take care of it. If a prisoner has a weapon they take it from him and turn it over.” Angola prison has gangs, like other prisons, but at Angola, the gang leaders are ministers of congregations within the prison. The difference is that the prisoners now have community and hope. Angola has started to exchange prisoners sending some of the graduates of its divinity program, still prisoners, to other prisons to start similar programs there. Even the women students who travelled on the trip felt safe worshipping with one of the prison congregations. My friend, as a visitor, was asked to speak in worship and he said to the prisoners, “The vitality of your worship life here in prison is greater than the vitality of most of the churches that we come from. Perhaps you should pray for us. ” Immediately about 50 people in the congregation stood and came forward and prayed for them, some of them speaking in tongues. One woman, the warden's mother, had a vision, and bullies were transformed into builders of community.
The New Year is a time for new beginnings because Christ is born to us and he is the author of new beginnings. God has been active in your life, giving you dreams and visions of good things God wants you to do for others. Perhaps God has put in your mind a dream for employing people, or a thought of someone to forgive, or someone to visit, or some people to help. Whether your dream is big or small, act on it in faith. Such loving dreams and visions are God's way of responding to all the Herods of this earth.